World Wide Whack

About

The hip-hop polymath built a reputation on witty freestyles that befitted her Philadelphia root, then broke through in 2017 with “MUMBO JUMBO,” a purposefully unintelligible trap ditty that brought new resonance to the term “mumble rap” with a Grammy-nominated video that should come with a warning for those with dentophobia. Her debut album, 2018’s <i>Whack World</i>, crammed an LP’s worth of ideas into the time it takes to brew a pot of coffee: 15 sharp, surrealist minute-long tracks that veered from slapstick vocal hijinks to straight-ahead spitting, each accompanied by its own micro music video. The world Whack built was carnival-esque, all funhouse mirrors and sensory overload, with a darkness lingering at the edge. Aside from a trio of three-song EPs (the tentatively titled <i>Rap?</i>, <i>Pop?</i>, and <i>R&B?</i>) released in 2021, Whack kept a puzzlingly low profile in the years that followed. The colorful critical darling who’d had so much to say in so little time had more or less gone quiet. Then, six years after <i>Whack World</i>, she announced <i>WORLD WIDE WHACK</i>, billed as the rapper’s real full-length debut. Early videos continued the high-concept ideas and cartoonish costume, but listen awhile and you heard something new: naked vulnerability, almost shocking in its rawne. “I can show you how it feels when you lose what you love,” Whack sing-songs on the twinkling “27 CLUB,” looking like a cross between Pierrot the clown and Bootsy Collin. The hook was one word, drawn out into a wistful melody: “Suiciiiiide…” .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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